MCA ANNOUNCES MAJOR EXHIBITION BY LEGENDARY SOUTH AFRICAN PHOTOGRAPHER DAVID GOLDBLATT

[Sydney, 05 March 2018] NSW Minister for the Arts Don Harwin today announced two Left: David Goldblatt, extraordinary exhibitions exclusive to Sydney as part of the 2018-2019 Sydney International Art Hold-up in Hillbrow, Series: the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) will present a major retrospective of (3_8834), 1963. Image internationally-renowned South African photographer David Goldblatt, while the Art Gallery of courtesy the artist New South Wales will present Modern masters from the Hermitage, an exhibition drawn from one and Goodman Gallery, of the world’s most important collections of modernist European paintings – the State Hermitage Johannesburg © the Museum in St Petersburg, Russia. artist. “The Sydney International Art Series, an initiative of the NSW Government via its tourism and Right: David major events agency Destination NSW, brings the world’s most outstanding art exclusively to Goldblatt, Young Sydney through two blockbuster exhibitions at the Art Gallery of New South Wales and Museum of men with dompas (an identity document Contemporary Art Australia,” Mr Harwin said. that every African had to carry), White “The Sydney International Art Series is a major visitor drawcard for our State. Since its inception in City, Jabavu, Soweto 2010, the annual exhibitions at the Art Gallery of New South Wales and Museum of Contemporary (2_13545), 1972. Image Art Australia have generated more than $134 million in overnight visitor expenditure for NSW and courtesy the artist attracted more than 1.8 million attendees.” and Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg © the With a career spanning over six decades, photographer David Goldblatt is one of the greatest living artist. photographers of our time, noted for his portrayal of during the rise and dismantling of . With their intense human focus, his photographs offer powerful reflection and insight into South Africa’s turbulent history. This exhibition comes hot on the heels of this year’s Sydney International Art Series exhibition at the MCA, Pipilotti Rist: Sip My Ocean, which attracted over 110,000 attendees – the largest crowd for a Sydney International Art Series exhibition that the MCA has held since the re-opening of its new building in 2012. Museum of Contemporary Art Australia Director, Elizabeth Ann Macgregor OBE, said, “David Goldblatt is a living legend of photography, and this exhibition is highly appropriate for the Sydney International Art Series, which brings the world’s most acclaimed international artists to Sydney. Visitors will discover an extraordinary artist whose documentary eye has not strayed from the complexities of his country of birth, but resonates with other global histories (including Australia’s own) through narratives of race and racism, and industry and the land.” MCA ANNOUNCES MAJOR EXHIBITION BY LEGENDARY SOUTH AFRICAN PHOTOGRAPHER DAVID GOLDBLATT

The grandson of Lithuanian-Jewish migrants, who left Europe for South Africa in the 1890s to escape religious persecution, Goldblatt was born in Randfontein in 1930 and lives and works in Johannesburg. He took his first black-and-white photographs in 1948, and following the death of his father in 1962, sold the family clothing business and turned full-time to photography. Over the next 30 years he documented the people and places, industry and landscape of South Africa under apartheid – a political system founded on racial segregation and persecution of black South Africans under white minority rule – and after 1991, its dismantling and legacy. Following the dismantling of apartheid, Goldblatt embraced colour photography, a format he had felt largely unable to consider before, due to the dark history of his country. This exhibition, curated by MCA Chief Curator Rachel Kent in close collaboration with the artist, marks over six decades of Goldblatt’s photography. Presented in groups and extended series, his photographs encompass the history of South Africa’s mining industry, white middle class, forced segregation of black and Asian communities into townships under the Group Areas Act, and stories of the country’s ex-offenders and their crimes. They also include Goldblatt’s parallel documentation of South African and Australian mining, including the West Australian ‘ghost town’ of Wittenoom and the human cost of this industry. A landmark exhibition for the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, this is David Goldblatt’s first major retrospective in the southern hemisphere and encompasses the breadth and scope of his career up to the present. Featuring his key black- and-white and colour photographic series, as well as early vintage prints, it is contextualised by never-before seen material from his personal archive. A new feature-length documentary will be screened alongside the exhibition. David Livingstone, CEO for Citi Australia – the exhibition’s Presenting Partner – said: “At Citi, we are passionate about bringing the best the world has to offer to Australia. David Goldblatt is a world-renowned photographer whose thought- provoking work will make for compelling viewing. Citi is proud to return as Presenting Partner for the MCA’s Sydney International Art Series exhibition for the fifth year in a row.” The MCA would also like to acknowledge the generous support of Catriona and Simon Mordant AM as Principal Patrons of its 2018, 2019 and 2020 Sydney International Art Series exhibitions.

David Goldblatt is at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia from 19 October 2018 until 3 March 2019. Modern masters from the Hermitage is at the Art Gallery of New South Wales from 13 October 2018 until 3 March 2019.

Media images accessible on Dropbox here. For any media enquiries, please contact: Stephanie Pirrie - Myriam Conrie [email protected] - [email protected] Ph 02 9245 2417/2434 - M 0430 517 722 / 0429 572 869